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Since Yahoo! acquired Maktoob in 2009 for $165
million the region has anticipated the next big exit. Today the
German ecommerce group Rocket
Internet is expanding its portfolio in the Middle
East with its complete acquisition of Kuwait’s Talabat.com,
a food takeaway platform, for the sum of 150 million euros (US$170
million).

Humble
beginnings

Founded in 2004, Talabat.com, which
was sold once before by Abdulaziz Al Loughani in 2010 to
Mohamed Jaafar, owner of the Kuwait London General Trading, has
since become one of the largest online delivery services in the
region, covering Oman, the UAE, Kuwait, KSA, Qatar, and Bahrain.
The site operates with over 1,300 restaurants, including major
brands like Burger King, KFC, Johnny Rocket’s, Hardees, TGI
Fridays, and Subway.

Jaafar told Wamda that moving
forward, everything will stay the same regarding Talabat’s
operations and staff.

A strategic move on the part of
Rocket Internet, this announcement comes just a week after the
company consolidated its foothold in the global food and grocery
sector by spending hundreds of millions of Euros to acquire nine
food delivery services in Asia. The company launched a new
division, the Global Online Takeaway Group, to manage its new food
and grocery acquisitions.

Validation of the
market

Revenue-driven, Rocket Internet is
known for its big acquisitions, its aggressive attitude to generating
revenue, and its no-fear policy when it comes to shutting those down that don’t make the
grade; this is a testament to the wealth of the food delivery
market in the Middle East. “The Middle East is one of the most
attractive markets with significant growth potential and highly
attractive EBITDA [earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and
amortization] margins,” said Rocket Internet CEO Oliver Samwer in a
statement. “The acquisition of Talabat.com is another important
step in our long-term global Food & Groceries
strategy.”

Rocket Internet, whose mission is to
become the largest internet platform outside of China, has been
operating in the Middle East since
2012 when it was instrumental in the launch of the
shopping site Namshi. With its stake in Foodpanda, Rocket Internet
already has its boots on the ground in KSA and Jordan
with hellofood.sa
and hellofood.jo. They have also just
acquired another Middle Eastern food delivery service from
UAE, 24h.ae,
through Foodpanda.

Effect on Kuwait and the
region

A Kuwait company by birth the
acquisition of Talabat.comcan only be seen as boon for the tech entrepreneur
scene of the country. It is also an example of how big value cannot
be created overnight, it took both Talabat.comand Maktoob 11 years to go
from founding to exit. “I think I am happier than the actual owner
right now,” said former Talabat.commanaging partner Al Loughani over the phone to
Wamda. Now working with the Kuwait
National Fund for SMEs and Development, Al Loughani said the
new exit could have come at a better time for Kuwait. "Coupled with
our own launch it's superb [...] hopefully we'll have 10 Talabats
in the next five years. This is a great story for Kuwaiti tech
entrepreneurs to aspire to."